Beauty and the Beast
by justaguy35
Summary: In a world filled with darkness, Light rarely shines for those who dwell beneath the foot of their demon oppressors. When one of these people become the center of attention to one of the strongest demons in existence and the price to keep the only people she cares for alive is her soul, how will she learn to live with this Beast? Will she ever see the light again?


**Beauty and the beast**

 **Chapter one**

* * *

Slowly her eyes opened to the soft sounds of rain on the roof of the poorly constructed housing complex. Sighing she rose from the mattress that was laid on the floor as she stood up and stretched her small body. As she walked to the covered window her small hand reached for the tarp and pulled it down to see the streets below shadowed by the castle off in the distance. As she peered out the window the people on the street cleared the way as a squad of demons turned the corner and began to walk up the street. The sounds of the legion foot soldier's march could be heard from all around as they continued to the cathedral. A place once said to be a place of hope and light now serves as the Lord of Magnolia's stronghold. The church-turned-fortress castes a dark shadow of the slums of the city, or what's left of it.

Before she passed, her mother told the stories that her grandmother told her. Before the legion consumed the world and people could leave their birth place and travel past the walls and as far as they're feet could carry them. Long after the legion passed was when the streets came alive again. The people began to do their daily tasks. Removing herself from the window she began to dress herself in the dull gray shirt and a pair of pants that had been patched so many times she could hardly tell what the original fabric looked like. As she moved to the cracked mirror that hung slanted on the otherwise bare space she observed herself. Her long blue hair was tangled and knotted, streaks of dirt covered her otherwise flawless complexion. One would normally look her over as a fragile object that could break at any moment. That thought would be thrown out as soon as the look of defiance carried in her eyes. Her mother warned her of that. The same look that her father had when he left for the resistance. He never returned. She shook herself from those thoughts as she approached the door when a knock was heard. Slowly cracking the door open she beamed and threw the door open as she launched herself at the two figures as they shared a heart warming embrace.

"Why were you gone for so long? I thought you guys got caught!" The girl cried.

"Levy you insult me, you think those overgrown lizards could catch me?" The orange haired man laughed as they all let go and began to walk into the small room before the other male stopped and looked behind him and sighed.

"Hey Romeo come on in, she won't bit."

"Droy who are you talking to-?" Levy was cut off when a small boy poked his head around the corner. Levy looked at her friends with a questioning look. "Where did you find him?" Levy asked as Romeo stood and looked at the three who had sat in a triangle on the floor.

"Found him by the market, good thing we hound him before Galic and his goons found him." at the mention of the captain of the trade district Levy shuttered. Their were only three captains in Magnolia. The first was Mirex, the captain of the defense force. Then there was Orceal, the caption of the guards. Lastly there was Galic, captain of the 'Watchers' or the ones who were responsible for the humans. Mirex and Orceal couldn't give a damn about humans. Those two only cared about following orders from the lord of Magnolia. Galic on the other hand was a tyrant who tortured humans for fun as did the Demons under his command. It was a nightmare. The horrible things that those demons would do was repulsive. And it was twice as bad if you were a female.

"Yeah, it would've been bad." Levy said as they were silent before Jet nodded at Droy's bag. Droy began to dig through the bag and retrieved a square object covered in cloth and gave it to Levy. Levy looked over the bag before she looked up at her friends before they both nodded. Slowly removing the cloth she gasped as the cloth was pulled away to see the leather side of a book.

" _The beauty"_

Was the only readable print on the cover as it was missing the rest. This was fantastic, this was amazing, this was illegal. The lord of Magnolia had seemed to only care about few things. And of those things was that humans were forbidden to read or write. Both were crimes punishable by death.

"Where did you find this?" She whispered.

"In the northern ruins. We knew you'd want to get your hands on this. So what's it about?" Droy asked. Unfortunately, Levy's father made sure that she could read and write and it nearly drove her mother to an early grave. She was one of the few people in Magnolia that could read.

"How would I know? I haven't even started." Levy said smiling like a child. This caused both Jet and Droy to smile. Even since Levy's mother died last winter the small woman rarely ever smiled.

"Well we need to get back out there, that book was just the tip of the Ice berg. Lets go guys." Jet smiled as they began to leave when Levy noticed something.

"Jet, Droy, where are you taking Romeo?" They both continued to look away from her as Droy spoke.

"To the southern ruins-"

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Levy screamed. " How could take him there? It's to be a lookout isn't it! You said you wouldn't take another one out there again!"

"Levy we already told you, that was an accident. The kid volunteered to help us with this." Jet said as they grabbed Romeo and left the room. Levy stormed out of her room and looked down the ancient hallway at their retreating figures.

"You're going to get him killed just like the last one!" She screamed as they turned the corner. "Please be careful you guys." She whispered before she closed the door again. Jet and Droy played a dangerous role in Magnolia. Treasure runners were payed the most, that much was certain. But unlike the punishment for being able to read and write, bringing the artifacts from before the war was considered a disrespect to their demon rulers. If you were caught smuggling the price was to be strung up and beaten and then killed, slowly. Shaking herself from those dark thoughts she picked up the book and sat against the wall as she flipped the book's cover over and began to read.

* * *

Her reading was cut short when a commotion was heard outside. Rising to the window she saw several people running to the cathedral. Quickly she dropped the book and ran out of her door and down the flight of stairs. Leaving the decayed building she stepped out onto the crumbling street and she stopped a random citizen. "What's going on?" Levy asked. The man turned around briefly as he slowed his pace.

"The Watchers caught some treasure hunters in the southern ruins!" The man said as he continued down the street.

 _'No,no,no,no,no,NO!'_ Levy screamed in her head as she ran with the crowd as they approached the town center. There in the center of the square, was a crude stage with several Legionaries surrounding the stage. Levy gasped as she saw her her friends stung up on the black poles, their bodies heavily beaten and their clothes dyed red. Galic stood in the center of the stage as he held a struggling man under his foot.

 _'No'_

"Asssss you inssects know, It is by his lord'sssss grace that you are allowed to live your pitiful exissssssssstence. And he only asssssks a few sssimple things in return, yet you would dare defy him?" Galic raised his foot and brought it back down, crushing the man's mid section. "Now you will see your fate when you defy him." Galic said as he turned to face the trio that were strung up. Grabbing Romeo by the head he ripped him from his restraints and held the boy by his hair.

"Hey ugly! Fight someone your own size you over grown lizard!" Droy yelled from his spot. Galic threw Romeo down hard. The boy screamed in pain as his small body bounced off the ground before Galic stomping on the boy's leg, the sicking crunch made the boy scream in pain.

 _'I can't lose them too.'_

Galic looked over at Droy before the demon stood between him and the crowd. Roughly grabbing Droy's cheeks he pulled a dagger as the crowd watched as the dagger was inserted into Droy's mouth. Levy looked away as she covered her ears as the inhuman scream was heard.

 _'No I won't lose them!'_

Levy returned her gaze to the bloody seen just in time to see Galic raise his dagger prepared to end Droy.

" **Solid Script: Barrage!** "

Magic bullets shot out from her extended hands. The shots connected with The soldiers and Galic as he screamed in pain as he stumbled, dropping the dagger as he turned to look at the crowd. The attack caused the crowd to go into a panic as Levy used this as a distraction and fired another barrage. This time she took out the soldiers as most were to wounded to move. Galic on the other hand had dodged the attack and roared as he charged Levy. Levy began to do another incantation when Galic hit her hard enough to send her flying across the square. Just as she began to recover she was slammed into again, this time being thrown onto the steps of the cathedral. Picking Levy up by her hair, caused her to scream in pain. Galic hissed as he looked her over. His scaled snout slightly burned showing where her attack hit. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, but firsssst..." He hissed as he ripped her shirt off. "Now then-" Galic was cut off when Levy kicked him in the head. Galic roared and threw her to the side as she crashed into a patch of grass. Inhaling, Galic released a torrent of flames from his mouth as Levy went wide eyed. Her eyes slammed shut and she screamed as she felt the flames surround her before the fire was cut off. She opened her teary eyes to see Galic wrapped in several vines. Looking past Galic she could see Orceal commanding his men as they herded the remaining humans into one large group. In a instance it was silent save for a the faint sound of foot steps. As the pain began to return Levy looked over her body to find her legs and stomach appeared to be severally burned. Levy looked up to see a man looking around the charred plants with a small frown shown on his face.

The man was tall and lean and had long, messy black hair that went past his shoulders and was tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a long, black jacket trimmed with a light-colored flame pattern with matching lapels. The cuffs of his jacket were rolled up, revealing a light-colored inside, which contrasted the black outside of his jacket, and had a black line cutting through the edge of the fabric. The jacket itself was tattered and split into four torn fabric segments at the tail. Beneath the jacket, he wore a frilly black v-neck shirt, lined in a lighter color, that closed down the middle and was adorned with a buckle just below his clavicle; just below this was a piece of fabric that he kept over the shirt but under his jacket, that circled the majority of the lower half of his torso. The rest of his attire was simple, it consisted of a light-colored pants that laid lazily over the top of rather plain black boots and have, on each leg, a seam running down the middle, as well as two pairs of buckles that formed an X on the thigh and lower calf.

"Galic."

the man's voice held a coldness she had never heard before as he looked down at Levy and the frown on his face disappeared as it was left emotionless.

"An insect in my garden," He mused as he pointed a finger at Levy as vines surrounded her and lifted her to her knees. At the contact on her burns and the thorns that jabbed at her from all over she cried out in pain.

"Please... Help them." She said as she cried. The man looked over her form and back to Galic.

"What happened to my garden?"

"Lord Mard, this worm attacked my men and I and attempted to stop this public example. Allow me to remove this scourge from our great csssity." Galic hissed as he felt the vines tighten around him. The lord looked back at Levy and when she met his eyes as she gasped at the cold nature they held. In one quick movement, Mard brought his foot up and kicked the side of her head causing her to cry out in pain.

"I didn't give you permission to look at me, worm." Levy let her head fall as her vision became fuzzy.

"Please.." She began again. "Let them go and I'll give you anything, please." She begged. Mard's smirk returned as he looked down at her.

"And what could you give that I couldn't take?" he taunted.

As he rose his hand to finish her off when she spoke. "My...soul."

Mard's eyes had a slight glint before he looked back to the three on the stage. His smirk ever present as he thought. Mard asked waiting for answer as the vines removed themselves from the girl's body as she fell forward face first. Using her arms she brought her self up and gasped as the pain shot through her legs, like a thousand needles as she rose to her klees.

"My soul for their lives." She said as she met his gaze again with a look of defiance, holding out her hand.

"Deal." The demon said as he took her hand and shook her hand. As soon as they're hands met a blue seal appeared above they're hands and a pale, blue orb removed it's self from Levy's bare chest. As soon as it left, Levy collapsed on the ground. Mard held out his hand as the orb floated for a bit before it flew back into Levy. Mard stood there shocked as his mind tried to process what had just happened. _'That's impossible. The deal was made!'_ looking down at the girl, a frown found it's way to his face as he looked over at one of the legionaries on standby. "Take her to the dungeons." The demon bowed and picked the woman's small body up and began to walk into the cathedral "Send these humans back to their living quarters." He said as he continued walking towards the cathedral.

"But Lord-"

"That's an order, captain." Mard said as he looked ahead at the girl being drug by the legionarie. 'I _can't have you fade away just yet, I still need what's mine. Keyes should be able to fix you.'_ He mused as he began up the steps.

* * *

 **AU: I'm also publishing this! Told you guys to get ready cuz I'm not stopping!**

 **And as always, have a good one!**

 **-Justaguy35**


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